Age-related quantitative changes in the organelles of rat neocerebellar Purkinje cells

A quantitative study regarding the age-related changes occurring in the somatic organelles of the neocerebellar Purkinje cell is carried out, using female rats aged 2 to 24 months. Standard manual morphometric techniques are used to calculate the following parameters: somatic volume, volumetric fractions and absolute volumes of the intracellular structures as well as the membrane profile concentration, the membrane surface concentration and the mean surface of the rough endoplasmic reticulum cisternae per cell (RER-S). From a statistical point of view, all the cell components significantly modify their volumetric fractions (except the multivesicular bodies and nucleolus; the latter in relation to the nucleus) and their absolute volumes (except the mitochondria and the multivesicular bodies); the parameters regarding the reticulum are also modified during ageing. There is a linear trend between the age and either the somatic volume of the RER-S or the absolute volumes of the following structures: mitochondria, dense bodies, ground substance and total cytoplasm. A linear correlation is also observed between the cell volume and either the RER-S or the absolute volume of intracellular structures (the Golgi apparatus, the multivesicular bodies and nucleolus being excluded). Anatomophysiological considerations about the findings are discussed. The role of the ground substance as the major modulator of the volumetric plasticity of the Purkinje cell during ageing, is emphasized as a conclusion.